"In a democracy (‘rule by mob’), those who refuse to learn from history will be the majority and will dictate that everyone else suffer for their ignorance."
. . . it proves me wrong. The company is run by morons. No, seriously. Here’s a “warning” message it promulgated to my browser when loading new pages this A.M.
*head-desk*
Morons. The whole clown car is run by people just as competent as the moron who set this up.
Part of a FarceBook discussion of the phenomenon of His Ignoble Trumpery’s supporters viewing him as “anti-establishment” and Ted Cruz, whose entire public career has been in combat against “establishment” intrusions into Americans’ liberties is excerpted below:
JB: “These days, having once been inside a federal building for lunch makes one a career politician. Just like having once held an elective office of any kind makes one ‘Establishment.'”
JD: “But building casinos using tax breaks and eminent domain, while buying candidates left and right, does not. I think I’m beginning to get it.”
Yeh, apparently “owning” politicians (and openly BRAGGING about it!) and using one’s influence with “the establishment” to enrich oneself at the expense of others (via sweetheart “gummint takings” to benefit himself), and more, somehow just doesn’t penetrate the angry, tantrum-throwing toddlers’ pea-brains. Nope. His Ignoble Trumpery makes growling noises and barks really, really loudly, so he’s “ati-establishment” regardless the testimony of his actual history.
Meanwhile, Cruz, whose public career includes winning defenses of individual liberties and states rights before the SCOTUS and excoriation of “establishment” abuses on the floor of the senate, defense of our borders (even Jeff Sessions admits Cruz was integral to the defeat of Lil Marco and the Gang of Eight) and more is all just part of being an “establishment” politician.
Had to chuckle when I read (identity withheld to protect the guilty from embarrassment) a recent reference to John Moses Browning’s Colt 1911 that read, “It’s an engineering masterpiece with a design that’s endured almost 100 years.” Almost? Browning began work on the specifics of the design around 1890, and the pistol was in Army field trials between 1907 and 1911, when it was adopted for use. That’s not “almost 100 years” but MORE THAN 100 years, no matter when one chooses its start date.
Should I blame common core math for the writer’s faux pas?
I “buy” more than a few free ebooks. Book blurbs, reader reviews, and sample text allow me to filter many unworthy offerings, but some do slip through. And then there are the borderline examples. Well-written, for the most part, interesting stories (again, for the most part) with characters that seem more genuine than not (not that “genuine” is always good, when a young, semi-or-sub-literate writer is genuinely reflecting his/her own cohort *sigh*), etc., but with gaping holes in literacy, research, or understanding of a few basic concepts.
Many of the problems noted here could be easily mended were it not for the frequently overriding problem of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. It seems many writers don’t feel a need to have competent, literate line and copy editors (or are too chintzy to pay for such). After all, they have their attendance certificate (diploma) from some college or university, so that MUST mean they are literate and competent, and do not need to seek out someone who is literate and competent to line/copy edit their “masterwork,” right? Wrong. Even the most literate and competent writer can use literate, competent editing by a third party, preferably an adult. No, a real one.
The worst problems aren’t language or character development or plotting. No, the worst problems in a lot of writing in many of these freebies by millennial “grups” lie in their basic world view, their misunderstandings of human nature formed by living in a morass of media fantasy instead of
An example (I’ll name one author who deserves praise and not name another who tried really, really hard [#gagamaggot] to write a decent story but failed, “deserving” only a “participation trophy”): Many of the freebies I read are introductions to series. Good practice. . . if the intro is a good read. Some of them I read specifically to review for recommendation/disapprobation for my Wonder Woman who is always seeking new writers to appeal to her students, especially her 7th/8th grade students. This practice led me to read (for review) a book by Shelley Adina, “Lady of Devices,” a steampunk “romance” (NOT capitalized), where, for the first book at least, “romance” ~ “adventure,” as it once meant. I was so surprised by the quality of the writing (in all aspects–good use of English, good plotting, character development and descriptive narrative, etc., as well as a really sensible Victorian feel to the book that I have since read everything else Adina has written in the series,* and felt privileged to pay to do so.
Another book I just finished attempted to do what Adina accomplished, in the same genre, but the writer was both not competent in those areas where I praise Shelley Adina and apparently did not see the need (or was too cheap to pay) for competent, literate line/copy editing. On top of that, the writer committed the cardinal sin of placing “message” above story and periodically throughout the text ended up pontificating on points of the society she had designed with which she disagreed, instead of letting the story simply speak for itself. Bad writing, that, really bad writing.
And that was on top of presenting some basic concepts of human nature and relationships in what I have come to expect to be typical of jejune, shallow, millennial crybabies.
Sad. There were moments of sound grade “C” writing, with gusts up to “B+” on occasion, but I had to give the book a “One star that should be zero stars” rating and could NOT recommend it for young adolescents, as I resoundingly recommended the Adina books.
Seriously, most of these young writers really, really need to submit their work for correction and critique to literate, competent adults (NOT something they are likely to find among their circles of acquaintances) before releasing it into the wild.
*She’s also written some contemporary “juvies” directed toward (it seems middle school girls. I’ve not read those, but I did suggest that my Wonder Woman look into them for her libraries, given the quality of Adina’s steampunk books.
“Social Justice Warrior” movements are full of [“Shiite”].
Thatisall.
So, backtracking Sean Penn’s movements during his clandestine meeting with “El Chapo” Guzman, infamous Mexican “drug lord,” led Mexican authorities to finally REcapture Guzman. Again. Now, Mexican law enforcement is investigating/mulling over the criminality of Penn’s acts.
But wait! There’s more!
The U.S. has filed an extradition request with Mexico for Guzman to stand trial for crimes committed in the U.S. And Mexico has already said the request meets the requirements of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and Mexico. Oh, why not? Mexico can’t seem to keep Guzman in prison (he’s escaped, what, three times?). Maybe the U.S. can.
But wait! There’s more!
Remember? Mexico ? investigating Penn’s acts? Imagine a prisoner swap: Guzman for Penn. Mexico trades a murderous head of a drug cartel for Sean Penn (’nuff said). We win that exchange.
As even ESPN Podperson, Dan Szymborski, notes, “Only Sean Penn can interview a murdering drug kingpin and somehow come off looking like the douchebag of the piece.”
. . . And by now, y’all should know how hard it is to tick me off. *heh*
Apparently, USA cable is running an NCIS “marathon.” I walked in on an episode where a volunteer first responder–known almost universally in state laws as a “Good Samaritan” and in the federal Volunteer Protection Act that is similar to state Good Samaritan laws simply as a volunteer–is threatened with charges for giving first aid to three people involved in an automobile wreck where one she attempted to aid died.
I throw the bullshit flag on the whole premise. Good Samaritan Laws and the “feddle gummint’s” own VPA protect good faith efforts by volunteers from such bogus persecution.
Of course, nowadays, law enFARCEment and “persecutors'” offices regularly sneer at actual legal restrictions on their misbehavior, so I can understand how lame-a$$ed, ill-informed writers could come up with the story line, but since some states Good Samaritan laws go even further and require bystanders to give aid, programs like this that assert ONLY certified medical personnel could give trauma first aid could get folks in some serious trouble.
“44 Percent Of Democrats Support Taking Refugees From A Fictional Country”
Much sneering and finger-pointing by leftards about the results of a “gotcha” question in a Public Policy Polling survey directed toward Republicans that had 30% of Republican voters polled supporting bombing Agrabah, a fictional country in the Disney film Aladdin.
Hmmm, not much in the Hivemind about a WPA Research poll that discovered that 44% of polled Dhimmicrappic voters would happily accept “refugees” from the same fictional country. (66% in the key Dhimmicrappic 18-34 y/o age range.)
Yeh, everyone knows Republicans have a lot of uninformed voters. Poll after poll demonstrates that Dhimmicraps just have a lot more dimwitted boobies.
Not feeling like streaming stuff. . . watching a syndicated re-run of Blue Bloods. Commercial on. Guy says “anabotics” when he means “antibiotics”. Eminently mockable. Would love to mock him in person. Because fun.
Ponder, if you will, all the times the feds have, of late, misused the 14th Amendment to impose restrictions on genuine rights, create licenses (that it mislabels as “rights”) and in general oppress liberty instead of using it correctly to protect legitimate, natural, God-granted rights. Interesting, eh? Turning constitutional provisions on their heads and destroying liberty seems to be something a majority of SCOTUS, for example, is quite comfy with.
Poisoning the well of freedom. Not a good thing.